S. J. Davis

Sparrow's mother is killed in a car crash on a Blackfoot reservation. Sparrow is cut loose with only the knowledge that there's apparently something important about her mother's tattoos and she'll need her own someday. She moves off the reservation to Washington D.C. to be with her aunt and trouble follows her there in the form of a threatening voice and an icy dead girl only she can hear.

This book feels incomplete to me. It's written in the present tense, which is a difficult tense for even skilled authors. There are a few areas in the beginning where past and present tense are mixed together but otherwise the tense is fairly well maintained. I do actually think the present tense can add to the right book with the right author but I didn't enjoy it here and felt a past tense would have been less jarring and made the rest of the language easier to follow. My biggest complaint is that most authors "tell, don't show" and you get three paragraphs telling you he's blonde, 6'2", buff, but not too buff, etc., etc. You catch my drift. The writing in this book is the exact opposite. It's very "show, don't tell" but the writing overall is almost to flowy and stream of conscious. It's very pretty but I was confused by scene changes, never really got to know any of the characters as they just seemed to exist and we were just expected to accept them even as they passed more like shadows then fully filled out individuals. Mateo is Sparrow's spirit guide and Layne is her boyfriend, who we meet for all of three seconds before they're going steady. I wasn't sure what they saw in each other. It's just all very float-y and hard to pin down.

Some Blackfoot mythology is brought into it and I enjoyed the American Indian aspect of it, but it felt barely touched on. Most of the book is spent worrying about the voice threatening to kill her and everyone around her, stressing about when she'll be ready for the tattoo and repeat. Tattoos have no place in folklore/mythology used as a basis of the story that I'm aware of so it really could have had any background. I would have liked the reservation and Blackfoot background to show a little better. Reservation life never seems to show up in "Native American" fantasy/UF even though it's a big fact of life for most, whether they themselves or some part of their family are there.

It's a short book, more a novella, which is probably a good thing considering there's not enough touched on or revealed for a full book. Overall the book needs a little less stream of consciousness and mores solid building, or to be shortened and have a bit more wittling out of unnecessary characters and action if it's going to go truly short story, which might fit it a little better with the tone of the book.

There's promise here, based on the way the author can build a beautiful image but there's work to be done.… (altro)

I would actually have given this a 3.5 stars, but since they don't allow it, it gets a four.

Steampunk, and vampires, and people infected with a 28 Days Later-esque virus...oh my! This was my first foray into the Steampunk genre and I have to say, it was pretty exciting. Davis has created a Victorian world of gadgets, goggles, and airships, intertwined with a unique vampire race. Vampires who have a sort of peace treaty with humans and who, mostly, care about the human race. When one of their ranks turns rogue, it turns things upside down and the relations between the two races become strained, to say the least.

Davis writes well. Her narrative is descriptive and engaging. However, some of the characters are very one dimensional and I became lost a couple of times because the book seemed to jump too fast from scene to scene. I liked how she alluded to Jack the Ripper being the rogue vampire. It all tied in nicely historically, which is a big plus, since I adore history. In all, I think the book could have been somewhat longer as to flesh out the characters more and perhaps develop more of the history and story of the vampires. Plus, a longer book would have made the ending not seem so abrupt. In all though, I enjoyed Invisible Sun. It has made me interested in reading more Steampunk in the future.… (altro)

The anthology starts out with a beautifully strange illustration, entitled Clock Tower (Amanda Gatton), followed by a gorgeously disturbing poem by Catherine Stovall, The Cogs of Time. In the first story, The Properties of Mercury by Robert Craven, Frederick Devereux has discovered how to make mercury perform many seemingly miraculous tasks, by harnessing the powers of distant stars. A fast-paced, old fashioned, shoot-em-up, with a steampunk flavor.
In Amelia by Samantha Ketteman, a young woman is running scared. She doesn't know what is going on, but she has been attacked and is terrified. Everything makes sense at the end. Flights of Fancy (Amanda Gatton)is another cool, quirky illustration. Balloon by Cindy J Smith is a potently visual poem. Letters to the Prince, by Emma Michaels, was wonderfully sweet and a bit sad. A lifetime of longing, of waiting for THE MOMENT, may end in death for them both! In After the Flare, by Faith Marlowe, archaeologists, from a couple hundred years in our future, look for proof of ancient alien technology, to help get our planet back up to speed after a cataclysmic event wipes out all of our tech. Gas Mask is a super creepy illustration that merges doomsday and children of the corn, in my head.
Well Oiled Machine by Nina Stevens is a wonderful poem about a girl and her daddy, creating mechanical things, and then a flash forward to her adulthood. Point of Departure by Wayne Carey is a dystopian/alternate reality, in which airships and portals are a 'thing'. The first couple of pages were a bit slow for me, but once past the choppy beginning, this story was MAGNIFICENT!!! I cannot blame the first part on the author, only myself, as I am an American, reading a about an alternate reality in which the Brits are actually a world power.... Go figure:-). First Steps, by Zoe Adams: a Maiko, Geisha in training, walks through a mechanical wonderland on her way to a tea house. I had a few chuckles as she reminisced about her training, as I remembered the matchmaker from Mulan. The Hand by Amanda Gatton: a skeletons hand, with the lacy cuff of Victorian garb, hold a delicate teacup. Mauseleum by Cindy J Smith is a super creepy poem about confronting your family's ancestry...literally. Wren City by Catherine Stovall: oh... Wow! In true steampunk fashion, there are air ships, floating sky malls, and a giant clock tower. This story is majorly suspenseful, and quite romantic. Love it! Haven by MJ Baerman: thoroughly enjoyable story of pirates and mutiny and matters of the mind. Steamships and dirigibles and mechanics, oh my! Forever Love by Eada James is an illustration of a clockwork heart in a glass dome. From the fluid leaking, I'd say it's still beating... Machine by Eada James: a poem about a love lost and transformed to clockwork monstrosity. Captive Sleep by Andrea Staum: a twisted tale of treachery. A clan of cat warriors takes over the crew of an airship. Domaroc hits his head and is tended by a female cat warrior princess. Treason and mutiny are served up well in this story. Sandy Marlin: Frontier Brewer by Deborah Dalton: a kick butt novella about a true frontierswoman . She doesn't take crap from anyone, and she aims to keep it that way! Voyage by Eada James: an airship captain flies high above the troubles of the landbound (poem). Time Flies by Cecilia Clark is an illustration of a woman and a tiny flying clock. Invisible Sun by SJ Davies: surprise! There's a full length novel at the end of the book! In a world of gas lamps and steam powered vehicles, Vampires and human coexist peacefully. Rather than cursed, the Vamps in Gravesend are the product of careful genetic engineering. Problems arise when vampire-like murders of prostitutes keep cropping up all over the city. This is a story of scientific horrors, truest love, sacrifice, and hope. A truly great feast of appetizers and an excellent main course!… (altro)

I requested this book from the R2R event in one of the Goodreads groups where I'm a member.

What can I say? I saw lots of negative reviews for it, and thought that I'd give it a good review. But guess what - there was nothing even remotely good to base such a review on.

I'm really sorry to say this, since I know how much time and effort it takes to write a story, but this one was really not good. The whole time my eyebrows were raised at the absurdity of it all. There was absolutely no detail. We weren't introduced to 90% of the characters at all. People came and went and I had no idea who they were, what was the purpose of them being mentioned.. that sort of thing. And I'm not talking minor characters that kind of blend with the crowd. Oh, no! I'm talking major characters (like the narrator who's name I can't even remember), who have no depth, not even air to their persona.

I was going to just leave this story and apologize for not reading it till the end, but then it didn't take me more than an hour to get to the end. I also hoped that it would have some sort of good ending, which it didn't. It was a total disappointment.

So, honestly, what was the whole point of this story?… (altro)